Once again, I was playing an NPC. Honestly, I don’t see any difference in enjoyment between playing a PC or an NPC—I give my all to both. You? This time, I was playing a Satyr. To prepare for the role, I downed four shots of pelinkovac. Just to clarify: in Croatia, LARPing often goes hand in hand with alcohol. In my case, I was always excited before a LARP, to the point that alcohol never really dulled me—it just gave me wings to act without hesitation.
In fact, despite how often and how much people drink at LARPs in Croatia, I’ve never been to an event where it was a problem. If someone overdid it, they’d just quietly retreat to their tent or step aside until they sobered up.
At this LARP, I fully let loose—I jumped, sang, danced, hugged everyone, and fully embodied the satyr energy. Once again, we played in a mountain lodge, and once again, the food was amazing. Luckily, there were no other guests because LARPers don’t like playing in front of an audience, and honestly, we probably would’ve annoyed them too.
Mountain lodges are fantastic LARP venues—except when it’s time to sleep. Then, they get packed with people who aren’t planning to drive at night because they’ve been drinking. In other words, most of them. And the snoring. Seriously, how do these women sleep next to guys who snore so loud the whole room vibrates? I didn’t sleep a single minute.
This is Matija Mihoković, the guy who will organize tons of different LARPs in Croatia.
After this game, many people told me they loved how I played the Satyr and that it made the entire event much better. That gave me the motivation to keep entertaining people through acting. But, as I’d soon learn, that wouldn’t always be possible—and some LARPs would end up being frustrating.
